Maine: A Model for the Nation’s Health Care

L.A. Times: “Many of the nation’s healthiest communities are wealthy and have large numbers of college-educated residents. But northern Maine is among a handful of telling exceptions, making it an important guidepost as the country searches for ways to improve health.”

Although northern Maine is among the nation’s poorest regions, it ranks high on national measures of health.

“Residents of the region receive recommended screenings and medical care more often than other Americans. They suffer fewer complications in nursing homes and are less frequently prescribed risky medications. And they are nearly half as likely to die from preventable diseases as residents of other low-income areas.”

Maine’s success owes much to its approach to health care: “intensely personal, data-driven and highly coordinated. The approach grew out of a decades-long effort by local leaders that many experts consider a model for how to improve community health.”

“Maine also has something intangible: a strong spirit of collaboration and civic engagement.”

What does that have to do with anything? What about this story made you feel RACE needed to be entered into it? Are you saying white people are smarter than other races about going to the doctor for preventative care? Or that preventative care is only available to white people? Geesh, sick to death of seeing race cards played where they don’t need to be…

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